Botswana (1983: Doomsday)
Botswana is a state in southern Africa that is surrounded by primarily lifeless desert and chaotic nation - and city-states. It is bordered to the far south by South Africa, to the northwest by Angola and to the east by the remnants of Zimbabwe. It avoided total destruction in the war and is now one of the largest states in southern Africa. History See Wikipedia for Botswana's pre-Doomsday history. Doomsday Botswana was not hit by nukes during Doomsday, but the swarm of refugees from South Africa overran the capital in a short spate of time. The majority of the government was subsequently removed with the exception of vice-president Peter Mmusi, who was visiting the northern provinces at the time. Post Doomsday Aftermath In the aftermath of Doomsday the southern provinces were in chaos due to an influx of refugees from South Africa and the northern provinces were in a state of shock due to the news. The vice-president ordered the military to shut out the southern provinces. This was due to the swarm of refugees coming in from South Africa and having a smaller area would allow the BDF to enforce Botswana's borders without having to introduce full conscription, although he did ask more people to volunteer. He also tasked them with restoring the order in the north and reintroduce central government. By late 1985 the northern provinces were secure and the south was completely cut off. The military imposed martial law and rationing was instated to deal with the complete loss of imports. Electricity was cut off to all but the most vital of purposes and Botswana cut itself off from the world. Rebuilding Despite the chaos in the south, Botswana was able to recover from the war far more quickly than its neighbours and by 1990 martial law had been lifted and rationing was relaxed. Mmusi ordered the military and the populace to begin rebuilding the infrastructure that had once only existed in the south. New power plants were built to run on anything that burned and transport infrastructure was rebuilt. With power restored and farming now set up Mmusi relaxed the rationing even further and allowed his people to have electricity for the first time in nearly ten years. The Elections In 1994 Mmusi announced that he would be stepping down as president and that Botswana would return to being the parliamentary republic it had been before the war. To that end he dispatched the military to the south to recover the constitution of the government. When they returned in 1995 they brought with them the constitution and news of other nations in southern Africa. Setting up the electoral system took most of 1995 and in December that year the first parliamentary elections in twelve years were held. However, the results of presidential elections were inconclusive and Mmusi stayed on as president with the new parliament. Under the new constitution the parliament had the power to overturn Mmusi's decisions with a two-thirds majority, ensuring that he would never become a dictator. In the 1999 elections Mmusi decided not to stand as an MP at all and handed his position as head of the Botswana Democratic Party to the current head of the military, Lt General Ian Khama. Khama stood for presidency and won with the BDP under his four year term Botswana became more seclusive withdrawing from the borders to control only administration zones 1,6 and 7 having withdrawn from zone 2 in the last year and the other zones following Doomsday. Under his reign his attempts to withdraw back to only Francistown and Maun were blocked by the congress but seclusive efforts weren't supported by the general populace and in the 2003 elections he was replaced by Ian Mmusi (not related to Peter Mmusi) of the Botswana National Front that advocated expansionist polices. Expansionist Period Under Ian Mmusi the army reoccupied the zones lost under the previous government and began to move south into zones 3, 4, 5 and northern zone 9. The army attempted to restore order to the populace, but was only marginally successful. Aware of other factions to the south of Botswana he ordered the army to expand and introduced conscription in preparation for a war. However, an uprising in southern Botswana, where the locals had been treated like scum, meant that any further expansionist movements would have to wait. Despite the troubles in the south most Botswana people had never had it so good and Mmusi's government was re-elected for a second term. The south turned into a lawless war zone and the locals were slaughtered by the hundreds. However, a Botswanan reporter sneaked into the zones and wrote about the chaos in independent newspaper the Botswanan Times. The images of fellow Botswanans being treated like dirt and the discovery of large organized groups of South African refugees resulted in massive anger at the government and even prompted secluded MP Festus Mogae who had spoken out against both seclusion and expansion to come out of hiding and form the Botswanan Unity Party that advocated middle ground. With the release of the photos though a vote of no confidence in Mmusi was passed and Festus Mogae's unity party won the following elections in 2009. Unity Period Under Mogae's government the Botswanan army withdrew from the southern areas to the northern areas of the lower zones and Mogae ordered soldiers to begin searching the land surrounding Botswana, a move that inevitably brought them into contact with other nation-states. Mogae has also announced that he wishes to begin construction of a canal that would link Botswana with the sea, although this will involve massive amounts of work and possible conflict with whatever remains in Angola, as one of the prospective plans would involve linking the Okavango River to the sea. Although it was decided to begin digging in Botswana to lengthen the river, the plans were not finalized as the Unionist government remained wary of the Angolan government. Mogae, following his party's beliefs, focused on strengthening the economy and infrastructure of his nation. With the increased wealth the stability and growth had bought to Botswana, he was able to ensure the electrification of more railway lines. New technology such as electric cars also began to emerge, with a few dozen being produced through Mogae's first term, as he put more money into developing technology. More money allowed for the standardization of the military to finally take place and by mid-2010 the contract winners had entered into production. With more advanced equipment soon coming to the military, Mogae decided to reduce the strength military to 18,000 men, believing it would need less manpower to operate the new equipment. Mogae also knew that although his party had promised a departing from the Expansionist policies of the BNF, they couldn't follow the Seclusionist path either, for the country needed a constant supply of water. Although there was in increase in the volume of rainfall in the country (with many seasonal rivers becoming permanent), there was a permanent need for a more stable supply of water. Mogae thus looked northward to the chaos in Angola and launched a campaign to capture lands with more stable water sources. This brought Botswana into direct confrontation with the lowermost Soviet Kingdom present in Angola in the fall of 2011. The armed forces of Botswana had become expert fighters in deserts but the jungles of Angola were alien conditions and the expansion soon slowed to a crawl as more and soldiers were needed to tackle the Kingdom it was up against. Only after nearly three years of fighting did Botswana gain complete control of the region, which by now spanned near-half of the Cuando Cubango province. Mogae was quick to capitalise, and soon offered whatever of the local population that was left jobs for water related infrastructure projects, while encouraging Botswanans to move into the area to also work on said projects and reduce the stress on water resources elsewhere at the same time. Yet the south was not forgotten about, and in 2011 Botswana would join the African Economic Community, which would allow Botswana to gain more fresh-water for its people as well as a port to make contact with other nations in the world and establish trading. Yet to ensure goods got to New Britain, railroads in the lawless regions of the south would have to be secured and a good portion of 2012 was spent establishing control over vital trade routes in zones 1 and 9. Modern Day Although the war in the north had cost nearly two hundred lives, living standards continued to improve and so for the most part people did not complain... much. In the midst of this, Mogae began to provide support and resources for those living in the lawless areas to the south and funded some of the larger and more government-aligned malitias in the region in a bid to bring some sort of stability to the region. What an armed occupation couldn't manage was done by funding what were no better than well organised gangs and slowly large portions of Gaborone became safe for day to day activities. Mogae was re-elected in 2014, and promised to continue to aid the south and eventually bring them back into the fold. This currently has not been achieved but it is hoped that within a few years conditions will be stable enough for the large portions of the south to once again enjoy the same style of living as the rest of Botswana. Already many towns along the railroads into Waterboersland have been resettled and construction of new schools and other essential facilities is well underway. Government Botswana is a stable Parliamentary Republic lead by a president who is both head of state and head of government as well as being commander in chief of the BDF. Presidential and Parliamentary elections are separate. There are three main political parties in Botswana which can be divided into the following categories: Expansionist This group is headed by the Botswana National Front. Political parties in this group tend to believe that due to Botswana's better survival, they have divine right to spread out into the south of Botswana and the country's surrounding areas. These parties are normally most popular in a seclusive government and are opposed by them in every way. Seclusion This group is headed by the Botswana Democratic Party. Political parties in this group tend to believe that Botswana should build up its homeland to reduce poverty and restore the standard of living to at least as good as it was before the war. They also believe that they should shut themselves off from the world. Unity This group is headed by the Botswana Unity Party. Political parties in this group tend to believe in a middle line between the Seclusion and Expansionist viewpoints. However the BUP has recently shown interest in expanding Botswana beyond its borders. Military Botswana has a large armed forces division that enforces law across the nation and acts to protect its borders. It has grown from its pre-war strength of around 12,000 with its small air-force consisting of British BAC Strikemasters and cargo aircraft now augmented with locally manufactured aircraft. Botswana's army also includes a semi-mechanized division and some tanks, while a rudimentary navy has begun to take shape with the launch of Botswana's first frigate. In Ian Mmusi's Expansion period the BDF grew to around 20,000 and although Festus Mogae's government has reduced the size of the BDF to around 18,000 men. The reduction in size has not impacted the efficiency of the soldiers, who are in fact more experienced, after being veterans of countless skirmishes and the war in Angola. New equipment from the has begun to replace and augment what the BDF is currently using, with more than half of the equipment for the defense forces contracted already having been delivered. Economy Botswana is self-sufficient with electricity supplied by several power plants in the north. Food is provided by farming plants and animals. Botswana also has around five factories that are used to produce military equipment and utilities. Botswana has its own de facto currency, the Botswanan Dollar. However, several currencies are used in Botswana for trades, et cetera, including the West African Franc. There are five major corporations in Botswana. *Botswana Industries are responsible for producing farming equipment, railway tracks, scientific equipment, turbines and a variety of utilities for use in homes. They are also responsible for maintaining the oil refineries. *Botswana Automobiles maintain the countries few automobiles and is also responsible for the production of Botswana's tanks. *Botswana Military Systems is responsible of the construction and maintenance of the BDF's infantry equipment and the IFV's in use by the BDF. *Botswana Air Systems maintains and constructs the BAW's fighter and bomber aircraft. *Botswanan Railways has two subdivisions; Francistown Engineering Works and Maun Locomotive Works, it constructs and maintains all of Botswana's railways and locomotives. Religion Protestant Christianity is the primary religion in Botswana, although there is a population of Western-Roman Catholics who are overseen by the Archbishop of Francistown. There is only one cathedral in Botswana, but most towns have a church. Islam is also popular in the west of Botswana with some villages having a mosque. Media Botswana has several radio and TV stations as well as three national papers. The Botswanan government funds a media corporation; the Botswanan News Agency or BNA, which has a TV station and two radio stations. The TV channel BN1 (Botswanan News 1) primarily broadcasts news and TV debates. The BN1's radio equivalent radio station BR1 (Botswanan Radio 1) broadcasts the same things as its TV partner, but the other channel BR2 broadcasts music and comedy shows. The other broadcaster in Botswana is the independent Botswanan Media Corporation or BMC, which operates two TV stations which focus on entertainment and news and a radio station that focuses on music. The BMC also owns the national newspaper; the Botswanan Times. The other two newspapers are independent, but both have a similar theme. Telephone lines in Botswana were the first pieces of infrastructure to be reconstructed and by the year 2000 a radio system had been developed that allowed the BDF to receive orders and report on situations from across most of Africa. Sport There are only two large sports in Botswana which are Rugby Union, which has seen a massive uprising in popularity mainly due to its endorsement by Peter Mmusi and the fact that it was the first sport to have a national competition reinstated. Most towns and cities have a play field or a small stadium and there is a large sports arena in Francistown that is used to host the finals of the competition. The other popular sport in Botswana is football, which takes place in the time when Rugby Union is not on. Football teams also tend to use the same stadiums as the Rugby teams use and both sports have a large publicity base. Travel Despite the fact that roads were some of the first things to be rebuilt in Botswana following doomsday, very few people have cars and those who do cannot afford to use them. This is due to an almost complete lack of oil in Botswana. Although there is a small oil well in the west, all oil produced is reserved for use by the military. Because of this shortage of oil the Botswanan government has constructed a network of railways, The rail network was finished by 1995 and its successful implementation was one of the things the prompted Mmusi into returning Botswana to a democracy. The rail network stretches across Botswana and links all the major towns and cities together, Two of the main lines have been electrified but the majority of the Botswanan rail network is run by steam power. Recently there has been a gradual return to the road as the Botswanan government has ordered factories to begin construction of electric cars. Medicine Without a doubt the largest problem facing the Botswanan government has been that of HIV/AIDS which has become far more prominent since doomsday. Even just after doomsday Mmusi and his advisors were aware of the danger the disease posed but lacked the equipment to deal with it, The disease is the primary reason for the slow growth of Botswana's population. Recently however Botswana's medical facilities have become more advanced and it is now practical to enforce compulsory screening for HIV/AIDS. This has reduced the number of cases almost by half and the Botswanan government hopes that it will one day be eradicated. Other than HIV/AIDS several other illnesses killed of large percentages of the population in the years following doomsday and one of Khama's better liked initiatives was the provision of free medical care to all inhabitants of northern Botswana, In recent years the free health care scheme has become impractical so Botswana's government has introduced a national insurance. Education Education was one of the few things that Mmusi didn't need to reform, There were already schools in most parts of Botswana and there was already work going on for a university in Francistown. All that Mmusi had to do was reorganize the system to make up for the fact there were less schools. Education has for the main part been successful in Botswana and it has one of the highest rates of literacy in Africa. Foreign Affairs Due to most of its governments being seclusive, Botswana has not yet established relations with most of its neighbours, but it is aware of them and the League of Nations. It is likely that now they are under a pro-relation government they will formalize relations with their neighbours and even apply to join the LoN. They are also aware of the main power blocs in the post-Doomsday world, but have chosen not to affiliate themselves with any of them. Still, the government may apply to join the in order to receive extra funding. Recently an application was submitted to the LoN and the Botswanan foreign minister has gone to visit the WAU in preparation for becoming an ally. Botswana's vice president has also gone to New Britain to discus joining the AEC. Category:African countries (1983: Doomsday) Category:Botswana Category:African Economic Community (1983: Doomsday) Category:Commonwealth of British Nations (1983: Doomsday)